Venture with Grace

Aaron Perman is a Partner at S3 Ventures. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit Verivend.com and see how easy it can be.~~~~~He works closely with Buildforce, HYAS, Hydrolix, Liquibase, Nexus, Plural, Riscosity, Stellar, Sudozi, and Upkey. He previously worked with Levelset (acquired by Procore), Liveoak Technologies (acquired by Docusign), as well as served on the boards of Invodo (acquired by CoCreativ) and Tango Health (acquired by Benefitfocus). Prior to joining S3, Aaron invested in small-cap publicly traded companies at Western Standard, a long/short equity hedge fund. Earlier in his career, Aaron spent time in the corporate strategy group at Southern California Edison and started a successful small business liquidating computer hardware. He received his BS in International Business from the University of Southern California.Topics: Navigating the Texas Startup EcosystemFrom Seed to Scale: Strategies for Sustainable GrowthThe Evolution of B2B Software and Infrastructure Tooling#VentureCapital #Startups #TexasTech #EarlyStageInvesting #ScalingStartups

Ben Kus is the Chief Technology Officer at Box, where he oversees the company’s technology vision and leads global engineering and product teams. He joined Box in 2015 through its acquisition of Subspace, a startup he co-founded focused on enterprise security. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at IBM and BigFix, where he specialized in mobile and endpoint security. At Box, Ben has played a pivotal role in transforming the company’s product into an AI-powered, secure content cloud platform trusted by 100,000+ organizations. He holds a degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley.Topics:Scaling enterprise AI securely and responsiblyLessons from startup founder to public company CTOBuilding compliant AI platforms for Fortune 500 customers#EnterpriseAI #StartupToScale #TechLeadership #SecureAI #SaaSInnovation #AICompliance

Brad Harrison is the Founder and Managing Partner of Scout Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in advanced technologies across cybersecurity, aerospace, automation, and AI. A West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Airborne Ranger, Brad brings deep leadership and operational experience to venture. Prior to founding Scout, he launched multiple startups and held senior roles at companies like AOL. Under his leadership, Scout has backed high-performing startups like ID.me, Unite Us, and PiLogic, focusing on mission-driven founders building products that scale across both commercial and public sector markets. Brad earned his MBA from MIT Sloan and is known for supporting technically strong teams with a focus on execution, resilience, and long-term value creation.Topics: How to build commercially scalable startups that can also serve the public sectorWhy resilience and operational discipline matter more than ever in early-stage startupsLessons from backing technically strong founders in high-stakes, regulated markets#VentureCapital #StartupFounders #EarlyStageVC #TechLeadership #AIStartups #DeepTech

Sharla Grass is a Partner at Serena Ventures, where she focuses on early-stage investments across sectors including health sports wellness, enterprise, fintech, ecomm, social and more. Prior to joining Serena Ventures, she was a Principal at Greycroft, where she played a key role in investments in companies such as Boulder Care, Knox, and ScriptDrop. Sharla began her career in strategy consulting at Altman Vilandrie & Company and later held business operations roles at Uber before transitioning into venture capital. A graduate of Dartmouth College, she is known for her sharp diligence, strategic insight, and dedication to supporting mission-driven founders building category-defining businesses.Topics: Key trends in health, sports, and wellness investingSectors that are under-hyped or overlooked in the current marketHow AI is reshaping traditional sectors like health, sports, wellness, fintech, and e-commerce#AI #VentureCapital #Startups #EarlyStageInvesting #HealthTech

Zach Finkelstein is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Class 5 Global, an early-stage venture fund launched in 2018 that invests in high-growth startups across emerging markets, including MENA, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. He began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before moving into investment banking at Citi. He later transitioned to venture capital, co-founding Lumia Capital and leading investments in companies across under-invested regions. Zach also served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Careem, the leading Middle Eastern ride-hailing platform, where he led M&A and fundraising efforts. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he has served on the boards of companies such as TrueHome, InstaCarro, and Ziina, and has invested in startups like Nomad Homes, CargoX, and Shedul (now Fresha). Recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Venture Capital, Zach is known for his hands-on approach to partnering with founders and scaling businesses in global growth markets.Topics: Investing in Emerging MarketsHow to Build a Global VC FirmScaling Startups in Underfunded Regions#VentureCapital #EmergingMarkets #StartupInvesting #MENA #LatAm #SoutheastAsia

Steve Harrick is a General Partner at IVP, a premier later-stage venture capital firm focused on high-growth technology investments. With over 25 years of experience in venture capital, he has been instrumental in funding and scaling innovative companies across enterprise infrastructure, security, communications, and consumer technology sectors. His notable investments include AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco), LegalZoom, Pure Storage, MySQL (acquired by Oracle), CrowdStrike, Sumo Logic, Personal Capital, and many other market-leading companies.Harrick holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in History from Yale University, where he managed the Yale Student Investment Group and was an NCAA Division I wrestler. He has received significant industry recognition, including multiple appearances on the Forbes Midas List (2009, 2012, and 2013) and selection for the 2021 GrowthCap Top 25 Software Investors List.Topics: How to evaluate product-market fit in enterprise software companiesDue diligence frameworks for later-stage technology investmentsCommon scaling challenges from $10M to $100M ARR and solutions#VentureCapital #ScalingStartups #SeriesB #GrowthStage #SaaS #EnterpriseInvesting

Venkata Naga Sai Kumar Bysani (168k+ followers on LinkedIn) is the founder of The Data Hustle.~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit Verivend.com and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Venkata Naga Sai Kumar Bysani is a Data Scientist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina with an impressive 168K+ LinkedIn following and a Master's in Data Science from UConn. Specializing in SQL, Python, AWS, and machine learning, he has a proven track record in driving insights and predictive analytics that support executive decision-making. His innovative work has earned remarkable recognition, including features on Times Square billboards and coverage by major media outlets like Fox and NBC, plus recognition by Favikon for his contributions to the data community. Beyond his corporate role developing dashboards and predictive models, Sai Kumar actively competes in data science competitions, earning top placements in prestigious hackathons, making him a standout voice combining technical expertise with significant industry influence.Topics: From 0 to 168K: The LinkedIn Growth Strategy That Actually WorksPersonal Brand for Data ScientistsAI Impact: Will ChatGPT Replace Data Scientists?#DataScience #PersonalBrand #LinkedIn #TechCareers #DataAnalytics

Sami Ghoche is the Co-founder and CEO of Forethought. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit Verivend.com and see how easy it can be.~~~~~He guides the company’s vision, strategy, and product growth. With a deep background in AI and machine learning, he previously worked on LinkedIn’s AI and ML team, enhancing the relevance of the newsfeed. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Sami is originally from Lebanon and is passionate about soccer and building technology that makes a real-world impact.He holds both an M.S. and a B.S. from Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude.Topics: How AI Is Changing Customer Service Current Trends in Artificial IntelligenceWhere customer service technology will be in 5-10 years#VCPodcast #AIStartups #CustomerService #ConversationalAI

Arnav Sahu is a Partner at Peak XV Partners (fka Sequoia India). ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit Verivend.com and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Prior to that, he was a Principal at Y Combinator. YC is a leading startup accelerator and venture capital firm with a combined portfolio valuation of over $750 billion (some of their most successful investments include OpenAI, Coinbase, Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash). He partnered with and invested in several successful startups such as Scale AI, Replicate, Luminai, Vanta, Rippling, PostHog, Fivetran, Mattermost, Salt Security, BuildBuddy, Stoke Space, Zepto, Secoda, Aquarium Learning, and Pylon. Previously, Arnav was an investor at Spark Capital. Prior to that, he worked at Cisco and AppDynamics, and was an investor at Blackstone, one of the most successful investment firms in history. Arnav graduated from Cornell University and grew up in India.Topics: What separates YC alumni that go on to unicorn status vs those that don'tNext big AI opportunitiesHow AI founders think about moats and defensibility differently#VentureCapital #YCombinator #PeakXV #AIInvesting #SeedStage

Ben Sun is a Cofounder and General Partner at Primary. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit Verivend.com and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Forbes' Midas List ranks him as one of the top 100 tech investors in the world. His founder-first approach originates from having been one: His experiences cofounding Community Connect, one of the first social networking companies, and LaunchTime, an incubator, inform how he supports founders in the portfolio.Ben focuses his investing activities on primarily consumer-facing companies. Ben has been active in the NYC tech community for over 20 years. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur and investor, Ben worked at Merrill Lynch in the Technology Investment Banking Group, but he really began his career at the age of eight when he worked in his parents’ Chinese restaurant.Topics: Building the VC Firm Founders Actually NeedWhy incubate Companies Instead of Just Funding ThemThe Art of VC Team Building and What Most Get Wrong#VC #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #SeedFunding